Month: January 2018

For 2018, I have already committed to three new year-long knit-a-longs. I haven’t started knitting them yet because, alas, I am still knitting a Christmas present, and that is a project shrouded in secrecy since it is intended for someone who might be reading this blog post:

But yes, there are three KAL’s in my future. At the end of the year, I should be rewarded with two Shetland lace scarves and one cable sampler scarf, all hand knit by me! Now, that’s not to say there won’t be other projects tucked in here and there throughout the year, because you know and I know that there will be. It is inevitable. But today, as most of the country shivers in a brutally cold weather pattern, I want to talk about these three KALs.

The clues for the first one are issued on the first day of the month, and so the January clue has already dropped. I am using Harrisville Shetland fingering yarn in the lovely cornflower colorway, which is very tweedy in light to medium blues and purples. For my Christmas gift, Tom bought a whole cone (900 yards) for me:

which is roughly twice what I will need for this scarf. And so, I plan to roughly double it, and make a wrap instead of a scarf. The right side rows have eyelets and decreases, and the wrong side rows are knit straight back across, making garter based lace.

The clues for the second Shetland scarf drop on the 15th of the month. The difference is that the wrong side rows are purled, for stockinette based lace. I am using red Kashmir DK, a discontinued yarn from Louisa Harding:

The 10% cashmere fiber content makes the knitting enjoyable. The microfiber makes the project bouncy, as in I stretch it out, and it bounces right back. I worry that it won’t hold a blocking well, but we shall see.

The third KAL scarf is a cable sampler. The clues drop on the 20th of each month, and I’ll be using Cascade Cloud yarn in Honey, left over from another project a couple of years ago. Look familiar?

Back in November, when I was setting up my project page, I wrote “The scarf will be very warm [as in too warm for anything I might possibly need myself], but I know some people who live where it is cold [and that is decidedly not where I live].” I feel pretty silly about that right now. I live in the MidSouth, so I did not believe that this could possibly include me, but this past week, Memphis along with most of the rest of the nation, has succumbed to an arctic vortex, with temperatures dipping into the teens or lower each night, and seldom rising above freezing during the day. It has been quite awful. When I moved to Memphis, I erroneously believed that, as I was moving South, life would be warm and wonderful. I have been disappointed. Every year, I have been disappointed.

Watching the weather news I realize that many people could benefit from a warm scarf about now, considering the arctic temperatures and considerable snowfall still in the forecast. Indeed, I hope everyone has a warm scarf, maybe with matching hat and handwarmers. You probably do. If you do, wear them. If you don’t, knit some.

Stay warm. If it is icy, stay inside. And, if you must go outside, be safe.